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James Corden sparks ire for making fun of balut, other Asian food in 'The Late Late Show'
"The Late Late Show" host James Corden is being called out for supposedly making fun of Asian food and culture on his show.
A Change.org petition was started by California resident Kim Saira, who saw a clip of Corden and his guest, Jimmy Kimmel, reacting to balut (fertilized duck egg) and other Asian food in a 2016 episode of "Spill Your Guts or Fill Your Guts."
"Spill Your Guts or Fill Your Guts" is a recurring segment on "The Late Late Show" where celebrities are given the choice to answer questions or eat unusual food presented to them on a table.
In this specific episode, Corden presented balut and other exotic food like thousand-year-old egg as a consequence for Kimmel if he refuses to answer a question.
"Wow, it all looks so terrible," Kimmel said, adding that it "doesn't smell good."
Corden, on the other hand, called the food "really disgusting" and "horrific."
He also said he doesn't "even know what [balut] is."
In an interview with Today, Saira said balut is "very specific to Filipino culture."
"It's a food that I have been eating whenever I go to the Philippines with my grandma and my cousins, so it's a very sentimental food to me, and I noticed that he was presenting it to a guest and calling it gross," she said.
Having recently been reminded of the segment, she made a now viral TikTok about it, calling it "racist," before starting the petition.
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@kimssaira ok but this is actual Asian food & youre going on live tv telling people how gross it is. thats cringe
? original sound - Kim Saira
Saira's petition demands that Corden "completely change the food presented on his show to something else, or remove the segment entirely."
It also requests a "formal apology statement from James on his show, including steps he will be taking to do better in the future;" and funds to be donated to local Asian American organizations "working to help Asian-owned restaurants and small businesses."
"In the wake of the constant Asian hate crimes that have continuously been occurring, not only is this segment incredibly culturally offensive and insensitive, but it also encourages anti-Asian racism. So many Asian Americans are consistently bullied and mocked for their native foods, and this segment amplifies and encourages it," it said.
"We are holding James Corden and The Late Late Show accountable for their actions, and perpetual harm this segment causes to Asian American communities. At the very least, Asian American communities deserve an apology and this segment to be taken off the air," it added.
The segment that's currently under fire has over 27 million views.
Personalities who have participated in the segment include the likes of Kim Kardashian, Gordon Ramsay, Harry Styles, Kendall Jenner and Justin Bieber. —Margaret Claire Layug/JCB, GMA News